I'm not writing non-fiction. I don't feel anything about me as a kid was unique. Except that I had more interest in being alone and using my imagination. John Irving Imagination
And I find - I'm 63, and my capacity to be by myself and just spend time by myself hasn't diminished any. That's the necessary part of being a writer, you better like being alone. John Irving Alone
If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it. John Irving Courage
I take people very seriously. People are all I take seriously, in fact. Therefore, I have nothing but sympathy for how people behave - and nothing but laughter to console them with. John Irving Sympathy
If you are lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it. John Irving Life
With every book, you go back to school. You become a student. You become an investigative reporter. You spend a little time learning what it's like to live in someone else's shoes. John Irving Learning
To each other, we were as normal and nice as the smell of bread. We were just a family. In a family even exaggerations make perfect sense. John Irving Family
It's not very interesting to establish sympathy for people who, on the surface, are instantly sympathetic. I guess I'm always attracted to people who, if their lives were headlines in a newspaper, you might not be very sympathetic about them. John Irving Sympathy
I suppose I'm proudest of my novels for what's imagined in them. I think the world of my imagination is a richer and more interesting place than my personal biography. John Irving Imagination
I grew up around books - my grandmother's house, where I lived as a small child, was full of books. My father was a history teacher, and he loved the Russian novels. There were always books around. John Irving Teacher
The building of the architecture of a novel - the craft of it - is something I never tire of. John Irving Architecture